Monday, November 2, 2009

It couldn’t be any other way: seductive stare, pale skin, innocent little smile, ethereal attitude, all make them seem like he’s not from this planet, or this time at least. It’s not so hard to imagine why he’s a vampire that can make anyone fall in love with him. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s kind, he has a great sense of humour and he likes to laugh at himself. Plus, he has nice style: tight black pants, white shirt with black stripes. It’s not strange to see why there’s hundreds of girls waiting for him outside our tent in Cannes film festival. Some of them are screaming from a terrace, screaming as though they could lose their lives without an actor’s smile or autograph.But Pattinsson is completely unaware of it, on the contrary, he jokes about the suggestion of being a sex symbol. We start our interview with the distant cooing of loging fans, and with the certainty that a real star is being born.

“Mmmm… I can’t say anything about New Moon yet, I was asked to keep the expectations high, but I can give you a few details, is that ok?”, he says as soon as we sit down. “The place is rather peculiar, isn’t it?”, he jokes as he pulls the chair in which he will sit: a kind of throne that creates the mood for a very minimalistic and sophisticated place, and eventhough he looks very tired, since he hasn’t stopped giving interviews and attending red carpets of the French festival, he makes an effort to not show it and he gets excited when we start to talks afte aggreing to his deal.“I can say that the weirdest scene we shot was shot at a High School in Canada. When we got there, there were still plenty of students taking class, and I had to be floating around the place. It was weird, because the scene was very complicated. There was a feeling that I can’t really describe yet (laughs). I think, in general, this sequel will be much more complex, deper and it will make my charcter have another dimension..” he assured us.

But there won’t only be transformations in this sequel, Pattinson himself has experienced a change in the way he approaches this territory. “When we were filming Twilight, I used to say that it made me nervous being around so many people of the crew. However, it was weird how this feeling changed in New Moon. It maybe has to do with getting used to what it means being on such a large set, and, in general, a super production. I was surprised at how relaxed I was the entire time, honestly. Which is not a normal thing for me. I felt very confident for the first time, I really understood the sense of the movie, where Chris wanted to take it and what we wanted to tell, the emotions, the mood, everything behind Edward.“I learned a lot in Twilight, and I never ealized until I came back for the sequel. That’s when I discovered the new tools I had acquired. For instance, the things that worried me the most were no longer important. You lose the fear of messing up, you learn to try new techniques, and that’s great. You earn new confidence as an actor, and more freedom as well. I hope this is a process that never stops.“Now I understand why, with years, better roles come to you. You need a lot of experience to capture emotions with the camera and make the filming yours. But I think I’m on the right path. There’s still a lot for me to learn, though…”, he says.

But it’s not just about a new level of exprience, it’s a new emotional level as well. This vampire seems to have changed Rob’s life, and it’s something that you will be able to tell in the actual movie, according to the actor. “of course that another new thing that happened is that I felt much closer to my character. It’s amazing the ammount of emotions that you can connect with when you know more about him. This gives you more intuition and you’re more natural. It’s like you’re beginning to decipher everything in his mind and act almost instinctively. Getting into a role as intense as this it’s an increadible process. You never imagine what will wake up inside of you until you perform it and make it your own”.Eventhough Edward and Robert have become so close, that makes them have a more comitted relationship with each other.

“The hardest thing for me about this sequel was finding the right way to express very complex feelings. My character has to go through many emotional states. It’s a very deep role, with a very special background, full of hidden meanings. Sometimes, trying to exteriorize that and perform it right, it can be very hard”.Despite Robert not knowing what he had to do most of the times, if there’s something he learned is knowing every milimeter of limits of what this vampire could do, “I think I’ve developed enough intuition to know at least what kind of decision Edward would never take. And I think this is something that the audience knows too. The people who see this movie, whether or not they’re experts in films, they can tell if the actors make the right decisions or not. And that’s something that happens in general in movies. People feels, the chemistry that you have as part of the audience in front of the big screen and what this can transmit to you is something very special. That’s why it’s important to take it seriously, every scene, every little decision counts. You can feel it, the rest of the cast and crew can feel it, and the people will feel it! There’s such a big conection between the audience and the movie that I can’y stop feeling surprised by it, and it’s something that I respect a lot. I always try to give the best of me in every take abd be prepared from the moment I arrive on set. It’s not a game at all, although of course, it’s fun to do my job. And that’s a big fortune”.

“To me, films are very much like life, and relationships. Sometimes you don’t know how to find the right person. But at least you’re sure about what you’re not interested in. The same happens with scripts and stories (laughs). There’s projects that almost immediatly you know they’re for you and that you’ll be able to them naturally, and others that you try to imagine and you know they are not for you. Does it sound familia?” he asks me.And this brings us to very important territory in this actor’s life, because at 23 he has managed to placed himself under every spotlight in the world. But here comes the best part: planning his own career, “I haven’t stopped working this year and I’m involved in many different projects outside of Twilight and New Moon. I can tell you that most of the characters that I’ve chosen and every role that you’ll see me in the future, have a very personal orientation, because these are stories that I felt I had to do. Don’t ask me why, I just knew! But the truth is, I have no plan, and I’m not following a startegy either. I just try to be faithful to what my heart tells me, and that’s it.“I think that in this sense, I dream about things that every actor dreams of: doing things that I’m passionate about, and things that I can feel proud of, which sounds very simple, but it’s hard to get because in the film industry there will always be little factors that don’t depend on you”.

Another similarity he has with his character, who amazingly enough, he’s never seen like a vampire, is his analytic capability and the way he reasons with every aspect of his life.“I think the fact that he’s a vampire is what least defines him. Really. I know it’s hard to believe, but to me that is a condition is only part of different circumstances in his life. He thinks about things in a very realistic way, he thinks that making one decision or another is a very important thing, according to the things that present themselves to him and what his heart tells him. Many of these decisions are new, and this is the first time he has to make them, that’s why it’s very important for him to think and being aware of how far he can go, with each step he takes.“In that sense, that’s the closest I feel to him. There’s a whole bunch of new emotions and experiences that are new to me and I’m learning from them. An example? I thought of celebrating my birthday at the same bar I go to everyday and I never thought the stir it would cause.. Only I can be this obvious! I learned that things have changed in my life. And now I have to think twice about where I’ll go to, with whom, which time, and why. And believe me, it’s not easy to come to this conclusion.”But eventhough the British actor is still not used to stirs he causes by setting foot on the street, he doesn’t regret at all being a part of Twilight. “It was very interesting to see how everything came up, because nobody imagined what this movie was going to be like or how far this project would go”,“We knew it would be a very different thing from it had been previously seen about vampires, and the only thing that was clear to me was that I had to make this a fun character to play, a new challengem something risky. That’s why I chose Edward. And yes, it has been part of a very important process in my life, something that keeps surprising me little by little, and it has become something deeper than I ever imagined and has given me endless possibilites for my performances.Plus, there’s something that I love, that connects me deeply with him, and it’s how close Edward is to his emotions. The hypersensitivity he has to read other people fascinates me. The power of being so aware of himself and being so introspective, it’s a part that I can relate to a lot, and it hooks me.”

Pattinson is not just a sensitive and charismatic actor, he’s also a very gifted musician. So it’s not strange to see that the soundtrack of this movie was also a place where he could learn. “You don’t know how happy its made me that my song in Twilight was such a hit. If you go online and see what Alexandra Patsvas has gotten because of this, you’ll see that it’s amazing. Before this project she was already very famous, and eventhough this is just a part of her career and her history if success, it has been something very important to her as well, and for other musicians working in this soundtrack. This is when I can say that fame has done something good and has contributed to something. When you put the names of low key musicians out there, people who have so much talent, but haven’t had an opportunity yet, it’s a privilege to me and I value that.And it’s not just Alexandra. There’s other musicians that had no other place to showcase their music except My Space, now they start to live of their music and do things sponsered by labels. So it’s worth it to be in the spotlight. Otherwise, what’s the point of being so stressed out and the center of attention? Do you agree?” he tells us. He also shares that in his free time he also writes and plays at bohemian nights with his friends, trying to keep a normal life.

“To be honest, I grew up watching American movies. Most of my favorite actors are American. Is weird but that helped me get so many roles. It always happens after an audition, people ask me, ‘Where are you from?’, ‘Oh, I’m from London!’ I answer, ‘And why do you talk like Christophen Walken?’ (laughs). It’s happened hundreds of times, and I think there’s characters for which it’s necessary to have this kind of accent, more ordinary, more Christophen Walken. And it’s funny because I don’t even have to try to make it sound like that, it comes natural to me. It’s weird realizing that, you have created an entirely different character inside of you, without being aware of it, you just changed your voice.” He tells us acknowleding that, being British was also an important thing that gave to the vampire a certain elegance and poise. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m British, but most of the dream cast of Stephenie Meyer was made of British actors. I think it has to do with the American myth that English people are more classic, more old-school, like the idea people have of vampires.

“As everybody knwos, Edward is not a conventional vampire. He doesn’t have fangs, he doesn’t die if the sunlight touches him. But I think that in New Moon there is something more mysterious about him, there’s moral conflicts. They remind me a lot of the vampires in Interview with the vampire. They are beings who didn’t want to be like this, they didn’t want this condition. They were normal people that all of a sudden had to deal with new things. It’s very complicated because they have to keep denying what they are. They don’t want to kill, but it’s in their nature. And I think the question that the books asks is “is it worth to deny who you are?” I think the answer is yes, in the sense that in this case, letting go would mean killing people. That’s the real drama inside this story. Despite not having fangs and being out there with society, there’s a part of Edward that will never fully come out, and he has to be repressed for the rest of his life. It’s a very hard thing, and the story has a meaning deeper than you would think at first glance”.

It’s surprising the maturity in which Robert Pattinson has taken this role, and how he handles his personal life. The truth is, the star doesn’t want to stop getting excited and feeling. Just like any teenager, “I’m someone who is very happy with the most simple things in life. My friends are very important to me, as is my family and the people I love in general. I love music, films, going out for a drink and have fun. Everyday, normal things, but that I live with passion. And of course, I keep working to develope muself even more. I trust that this will happen. It doesn’t have to be different. When you work for what you want to and you give all your heart to it, everything comes in its own time. You have to trust life” he ends as he plays with his hair and he waits for us to stop recording to say goodbye with a kiss. In less than a minute, an entourage of managers, publicists and escorts take him to a different place. And is if we were talking about a ghost, this sweet vampire disappears between the crowd.